President George W. Bush sent his nomination for Janice L. Jacobs to become Assistant Secretary of State to the Senate on April 2, 2008. Jacobs received a BA in French and Education from Southern Illinois University in 1968. Then from 1968 to 1969 she worked as an assembly line worker for Magnavox in Champaign, Illinois, and in the Admissions Office at the University of Illinois. From 1969 to 1970 she taught French and Spanish at Edison Jr. High in Champaign. At this point, her husband joined the Foreign Service, and she accompanied him on tours to Ecuador, Egypt, and Mexico, working in a variety of jobs, including at the World Bank, NAFSA (an association of international educators), and as a substitute teacher at various international schools overseas. In 1978 Jacobs was hired by the Department of State as an Eligible Family Member, and worked in the consular sections at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City, and Merida, Mexico. She formally joined the Foreign Service in March 1980, and from 1980 through 1981 she was assigned to Lagos, Nigeria. From the summer of 1982 to summer 1983 her assignment took her to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and from 1983 to 1985 she served in Paris. Then she took a year of paid leave to join her new husband in Miami, and attended Florida International University.